Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Write What You Know: A List.

According to Mary, you should write what you know. As a side note, whenever someone says the phrase "what you know" I hear Tom Cruise yelling "Don't tell me what I know and what I don't know. I know the law." Of course, I don't know the law, so it doesn't apply to me. I would probably never write about the law.
What I could write about:

the Navy

being a sister

having a sister

having a brother

pets

parents

parent's death

old people

babies

young people

nuclear power

rocket science

space

school

desperation

dreams

hopes

small apartments

large bedrooms

rats

bicycles

ladders

swimming

gardening

tractors

tire swings

softball

anxiety

drinking

sleepless nights

alarm clocks

breaking and entering

house fires

road trips

hunting

weapons

computers

moving vans

diabetes

cancer

G Chat

generosity

deadlines

food service

coffee

defense contracting

appeasing others

mothers

motherfuckers

douchebags

Canada

the Midwest

the Northeast

the Northwest

guitars

disappointment

horror

disgust

technical reports

television

30 Rock

the evolution of female characters in media

comedy films

heart break

bulletized lists

That's just to name a few, and that was just off the top of my head. And I have clearly taken Mary's point and flipped it on its head. The sentiment of writing what you know is incredibly valid, and the problem with the sentiment is too many people take it at its face value. That's how we end up with so many stories about struggling writers. I think it's why Architect is such a popular occupation for a protagonist. It walks the right line of being vague and specific. The protagonist does something but it could be anything.
Anyway, I digress. Mary's right. Write what you know. Also, if you want to write about something and you don't know a lot about it, find out. It's called research. If you want to set your story in Houston but you don't know a lot about it, find out; read a book, check out the internet. Then you'll know. Then you can write about it.

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About Me

I fancy myself to be many things: a writer, a rocket scientist, a filmmaker, a barista, a government contractor, a sailor, a humorist. I live in the mid-Atlantic now, by way of the Northeast, by way of the Mid-West.